Enzymes and Your Skin: What You Need to Know

“Enzymes” is a word you hear bandied around in health and beauty circles, whether you’re discussing skincare, makeup, nutrition or fitness. But what are they and what do they have to do with your skin?

Ingredients like enzymes, vitamins and other nutrients might seem like they’re more fitting for a list of food ingredients than in a skincare product, but that doesn’t mean that they’re not good for your skin.

Increasing numbers of skincare products list things like Vitamin C and A, or antioxidants, amongst their components. That’s not just because these things are trendy. It’s because they can benefit your body in a number of ways.

What is an Enzyme?

“Enzyme” is a familiar word, but it’s not one that most people understand in terms of chemistry or biology, because we don’t often encounter having to deal with enzymes in our daily lives — at least, not by name. We do deal with them daily—but the process is pretty much automatic.

Essentially, an enzyme is an ingredient that helps other biological processes occur more quickly. Enzymes also aren’t consumed by the processes that they encourage. This is important, because using up something to complete a process typically releases additional heat. That’s not the case with enzymes. They can make a biological process occur more quickly without creating dangerous or destructive heat outputs.

What do Enzymes do?

As you can imagine, this is especially important when it comes to certain industries and purposes. In the food industry, enzymes are used to tenderize meat and aid in the production of wine and cheese without disturbing their flavor profiles.

Their ability to cause change without generating heat is also important in skincare. Enzymes are often able to help change occur without resulting in inflammation, for example. Also, enzymes can speed the process of certain processes like exfoliation.

Added Benefits

Enzymes can do amazing things, like improve exfoliation, cell turnover, circulation, etc. without increasing inflammation. But that’s not all they can do. They can also scavenge free radicals and reduce oxidative damage.